I really didn't plan on spending most of my Sunday in the kitchen. But, after the pumpkin killing, I was on a roll! Cooked and pureed the pumpkin, resulting in 11 cups of yummy, fresh pumpkin puree. 10 went straight into the freezer for future (yay!!) cooking projects. The remaining cup sat on the counter awaiting its fate.
Meanwhile, I baked a loaf of the Master Recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day. I need to stop doing that though because that's a really long title to keep typing out! Once that was done, I popped a loaf of pumpkin bread into the oven. I used my grandmother's recipe (two more eggs down!) which is easy and really tasty. I did notice that the pumpkin flavor isn't as concentrated as the canned stuff. I don't think that's a bad thing, but for something like pie, you might want to cook it down some.
I thought I'd been done baking at this point, until I realized we needed to eat dinner. (Yes, this was a realization, sometimes I conveniently forget about dinner.) Since I had no plan and nothing thawed, I whipped up some pizza dough. I meant to use my favorite whole wheat recipe, but after adding half the flour, I realized I'd been adding white flour. Oopsie. Half the dough into the freezer for the future. (All this planning ahead! Oh my!) Monterrey Jack Cheese with BBQ sauce. Totally hit the spot. And after dinner, I roasted up the pumpkin seeds.
It was a full day of baking, but everything turned out so well! I was tired, but really pleased with my results! Breakfast today was pumpkin bread, lunch was (store-bought) soup with Artisan bread to dip. Carving out a little slice of 'la dolce vita' each day...
Showing posts with label eating pumpkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eating pumpkin. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Pumpkin Killer...
I did it. I killed the pumpkin. It turns out the farmer's market (Annapolis Mall) I planned to hit this afternoon (because I was too lazy to get downtown Annapolis for the morning one) has finished for the season. I headed over to Trader Joe's and it turns out, there were a bunch of cooking options there. I ended up buying a 5 or 6 pound Fairy Tale pumpkin.
Photo source (because I suck at taking blog photos!): The Pumpkin Connection
It was a bit of a challenge cutting the thing up. I kept imagining taking off my finger all for the cause, so I took it sloooow and steady. Scooped out the goop and seeds, and it's roasting in the oven. I took my cooking cues from The Pioneer Woman, who has a handy step by step guide for making pumpkin puree and roasting the seeds. You'd better believe I'm roasting the seeds later! I guess because my slices are bigger and there's more pumpkin to cook, her estimate of 45 minutes at 350 is WAY off.
This pumpkin was so vibrantly orange inside, it almost didn't look real. I cannot wait to try it!! Minor detail... I haven't quite figured out what I'm doing with it!
In the end, it's a California pumpkin, so it misses many of the qualifications I'm searching for. But, I gotta believe doing it myself is better than buying the cans of pumpkin (if you can find them!) at the store. C'est la vie!
I've also got dough rising - made from yesterday's Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day session. It's getting yum in here!
Edited to Add:
Submitted to Fight Back Friday! Check out the other Fight Back Friday posts!
Photo source (because I suck at taking blog photos!): The Pumpkin Connection
It was a bit of a challenge cutting the thing up. I kept imagining taking off my finger all for the cause, so I took it sloooow and steady. Scooped out the goop and seeds, and it's roasting in the oven. I took my cooking cues from The Pioneer Woman, who has a handy step by step guide for making pumpkin puree and roasting the seeds. You'd better believe I'm roasting the seeds later! I guess because my slices are bigger and there's more pumpkin to cook, her estimate of 45 minutes at 350 is WAY off.
This pumpkin was so vibrantly orange inside, it almost didn't look real. I cannot wait to try it!! Minor detail... I haven't quite figured out what I'm doing with it!
In the end, it's a California pumpkin, so it misses many of the qualifications I'm searching for. But, I gotta believe doing it myself is better than buying the cans of pumpkin (if you can find them!) at the store. C'est la vie!
I've also got dough rising - made from yesterday's Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day session. It's getting yum in here!
Edited to Add:
Submitted to Fight Back Friday! Check out the other Fight Back Friday posts!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
A pumpkin of a problem
I read earlier today that there's a pumpkin shortage. I love pumpkin as much, or more, than the average person... but this doesn't seem like a big problem to me initially. Are we really running out of pumpkin? It seems to me that I can't go anywhere lately without running into (or falling over) them. Hell, I have 3 on my porch right now.
The problem seems to be a shortage of canned pumpkin. Um, I've only ever cooked with canned pumpkin. What about Thanksgiving? I'm hosting it this year for the first time. (Gasp!) Well, if worse comes to worst, I'll just make this year's Thanksgiving pie with one of them, right? I was sort of thinking about it anyway, actually.
Well, that article mentions that you can't eat the jack-o-lantern variety. I'm guessing that's what I have. This leads me to a question - is the problem that people just don't usually eat them? Or is there something inedible about them?
A quick Google search leads me to what I can only hope is good information. It seems you can eat any of the pumpkins lining the shelves, porches or streets these days. But you might not want to. Apparently they are stringy and not sweet enough. They'll serve for baked goods, but not for pies. For pies (or soup), you'll want a different variety. A smaller variety. 3-6 pounds seems ideal. I do have a smaller one on the porch, but there's really no way to know what variety it is. What's a girl to do?
This all leads me to the conclusion that I need to schedule a pumpkin-hunting excursion. I'll need to rely on the nice people at the Farmer's Market to point me in the right direction. And then? Then, I'm going to kill (and eat) a pumpkin.
The problem seems to be a shortage of canned pumpkin. Um, I've only ever cooked with canned pumpkin. What about Thanksgiving? I'm hosting it this year for the first time. (Gasp!) Well, if worse comes to worst, I'll just make this year's Thanksgiving pie with one of them, right? I was sort of thinking about it anyway, actually.
Well, that article mentions that you can't eat the jack-o-lantern variety. I'm guessing that's what I have. This leads me to a question - is the problem that people just don't usually eat them? Or is there something inedible about them?
A quick Google search leads me to what I can only hope is good information. It seems you can eat any of the pumpkins lining the shelves, porches or streets these days. But you might not want to. Apparently they are stringy and not sweet enough. They'll serve for baked goods, but not for pies. For pies (or soup), you'll want a different variety. A smaller variety. 3-6 pounds seems ideal. I do have a smaller one on the porch, but there's really no way to know what variety it is. What's a girl to do?
This all leads me to the conclusion that I need to schedule a pumpkin-hunting excursion. I'll need to rely on the nice people at the Farmer's Market to point me in the right direction. And then? Then, I'm going to kill (and eat) a pumpkin.
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